


Inner Monologues

by PrismalMelonMan



Series: Second Chances [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Longing, Monolouging, Rich history, Yearning, danny phantom-freeform, for now, inner turmoil, unrequieted pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 08:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21472789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrismalMelonMan/pseuds/PrismalMelonMan
Summary: Clockwork and Vlad both have a lot to think about. And theyre thinking aloud.
Relationships: Clockwork & Danny Fenton, Clockwork/Vlad Masters, Danny Fenton & Jack Fenton, Danny Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton & Vlad Masters, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton
Series: Second Chances [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547047
Kudos: 56





	Inner Monologues

A few weeks passed, and Vlad hadn't done much besides stressing over apologizing and getting the courage to talk to Maddie about Danny.

Clockwork watched from his gear-shaped screens at Vlad and smiled. "We'll meet again in due time, Vlad. This will be as it should."

An Observant materialized behind Clockwork, who promptly turned around. 

"Here to add your input, again?"

"Why must you mess with the Timestream? We are supposed to watch it, make sure that nothing gets changed, not go around changing time just because you enjoy the meager existence of two half-ghosts."

"But you don't understand, Observant, this is the first time _anyone _not to mention, _two_ humans were turned into ghosts, but still live, and can go back to being human whenever they please. They're fascinating, Vladimir has honed his powers, yes, but he must retrain himself to call upon the powers from any other emotion besides pride, and wrath, and hatred towards the the Ghost Boy, Danny's parents, who also are the cause of both Halfa's powers. They could destroy the world together, or they can improve it. On the track they're both on now, they are going to do great things. Vlad just has to initiate that. He knows his destiny, and he _wants_ to change; he needs to get over his fear now."

"Yes, but why change things? Ghost Boy has his family, and the greatest evil, of that time, had been eliminated, so why change?"

"Because I like it better this way. No one, not even _that_ Vlad, deserves to drift through space until they can no longer live."

"You're getting too personal, Clockwork. Your feelings are getting in the way of duty."

"You could afford to have a few feelings." He said shortly.

~~~

Meanwhile, Vlad paced a small trench in the plush carpet that covered his bedroom floor.

"She'll never want to talk to me. Especially not about Daniel. She hates me more than I hate Jack. She despises me. No wonder she wouldn't want Daniel to know the truth. I can hardly even say the words, 'my son,'. It feels too surreal, so wrong, and yet I long for it. Not to mention, how will Daniel—Danny—feel? She'd visited a while back, 6 years ish after the accident. I don't know why it happened, but it did, and...now Danny is alive." He rambled on to himself. "Would she even ever consider telling him? He's 17 now, he's had his powers for three years now, Jack is all he's known as a father. All I've ever been was a nemesis, a monster, hell-bent on exacting my revenge for the accident. But the powers are actually helpful...I isolated myself, didn't I? I could have reconnected, but I didn't."

**Meow**, Mad Cat responded from the middle of Vlad's bed.

"Yes, yes, you're a cat, of course you can't understand. Danny is the reason I got you, you know. Said that I should get a cat, because I was lonely. I refused! I'd never get a cat, I said. And now I have you. And while, I'd never admit to anyone, besides you, and _especially not_ that time guy, I _was_ relieved to tears the day I got you. Oh, what to do? Where to even start? How should I even begin?"

~~~

Clockwork watched the man monologue to his cat with a small, fond smile upon his face.

"You've got this, Vlad." He whispered at the screen which illuminated his face. He turned and checked another screen. The Future. It was getting foggy. "Perfect."

"You _know _there's a reason we exist outside of time."

"Yes, but every new choice is a new twist in the unsolvable labyrinth that _is time_. We know how Vlad's bad choices affected the world, same with Danny. But now we know that Danny wont become Dan, and now we're finding out that Vlad doesn't have to float sadly through space. And think of his cat! No one besides him knew that he had one. If he's floating through space, who will care for her?"

"You're just coming up with excuses."

"So what? Your negativity is rusting my cogs and gears. We exist outside of time. We aren't directly affected by the changing, altering of it, besides that time that Danny came to visit and I gave him answers of how to not accidentally get his friends and family killed and not become Dan. But the only way that, that affected us is that now Dan is our—" He was met with a globulous glare from the cycloptic, cloaked figure, "—_my_ responsibility. But he's still trapped in that thermos, which I can make it alone be frozen in time. We haven't been affected."

"What happens when that man dies, be it of old age or otherwise? What'll you do? Make him young forever? You've grown too....too _human_ in your many millennia of existence, Clockwork."

"And, as ever, you're like a machine. As unemotional as this clocktower which ticks into oblivion."

He pulled down the hood of his cloak and ran a gloved hand through long, messy white hair.

"That man will be your downfall," The Observant said.

"Did I ever _**ask**_!?" He shouted to its back. "You're insufferable. I never got to have a human life, unlike most of the ghosts here. I want _something_ close to what humans can have. Former-human-ghosts can still _do_ what they want. They can leave the Zone. Live some of the dreams they couldn't have when they were alive. But I was never human. I just......appeared, and learned how to moderate time. I watched humans learn how to build, speak, sing, dance. I've watched them start wars, hold peace, build empires and then make them collapse. I've watched humans fall in and out of _love_ a countless number of times. Is it too much to ask for just a _taste_ of what could have been? What could be, had I not been assigned the lonely role of Master of Time?"

There was no answer. The Observant had gone off to somewhere else in the tower.

After a few beats of stillness in the tower, Clockwork grinned to himself.

"I think Vlad deserves a visit. And a proper introduction."

**Author's Note:**

> Update #1!!! Thank you for all the support thus early in the fic!!
> 
> tumblr: https://prismalpremier.tumblr.com/


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